Blog | DRI
Data retention – the UK experience
We were sold data retention on the promise that it would be used to deal with terrorism and serious crime. Now the government is trying to water down that promise by redefining serious crime to include very minor offences. Recent news from the UK shows …
Lessons from Laptop Loss – the Bank of Ireland case and Mandatory Reporting of Data Loss
You might have noticed that 10,000 Bank of Ireland customers have had their personal information put at risk after four bank laptops were stolen between June and October 2007. According to the Independent, the laptops “were being used by staff working for Bank of Ireland’s …
German Constitutional Court restricts data retention
The German Constitutional Court has, in an interim ruling (German only), restricted the use of data retention pending a full trial to decide on the constitutionality of the law. The German law is being challenged in an action coordinated by the civil rights group Arbeitskreis …
Transport policy and protecting privacy
The Department of Transport recently launched a public consultation on Sustainable Travel and Transport. Among the options considered in their consultation document are road pricing, tolling and congestion charging. All of these require that some system be put in place to monitor where and when …
IRMA v. Eircom – Why ISP filtering for the music industry is a bad idea
You might have noticed that the big music firms are suing Eircom, demanding that it put in place a system for monitoring peer to peer filesharing and blocking transfers of their music. We think that this is a bad idea. Here’s why. Intermediaries, not police …
Implementing data retention – where’s the consultation?
This is a letter which the Department of Justice wrote in July 2006 indicating that they would consult us before drafting any measures implementing the Data Retention Directive. 18 months later we still haven’t heard anything concrete from them, despite reports that they plan to …
Irish Privacy Expert – “Big Brother philosophy threatens public’s privacy”
Professor Robert Clark is a leading Irish expert on privacy and the law. Here’s what he had to say in the Independent about the Government’s handling of personal privacy: Big Brother Philosophy Threatens Public’s Privacy Do the Irish Government and state agencies — health, prison, …
80 Government laptops missing – how much of our personal information is in the wrong hands?
Today’s Irish Independent covers the revelation (via Ruari Quinn’s Dáil questions) that over 80 government laptops – together with other items such as USB keys and Blackberries – have been lost or stolen over the last five years. It appears from the responses to those …
Today is European Data Protection Day – What can you do to safeguard your privacy?
Today, Monday 28th, is European Data Protection Day. Last year we marked this with a post giving some practical ways in which you could protect your privacy. This year, the single most important thing you could do is to help stop data retention in Ireland. …
DRI condemns backdoor implementation of surveillance laws
Government proposals to introduce surveillance of all internet users are unacceptable. The proposed law will require Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to log details of every email, every instant message or chat message, and every time users log on or log off, and to store that …
Ireland guilty of “systemic failure” to protect privacy – Privacy International
Ireland continues to suffer from a systemic failure to protect privacy, according to the new report of watchdog Privacy International on Leading surveillance societies in the EU and the World 2007. Their 2007 Report is a comprehensive document based on a survey of 47 countries …
UK security breaches – Irish situation is no better
The Data Protection Commissioner has said that the recent UK security breach could just as easily happen in Ireland and that public bodies have ignored years of warnings about data security: Data Protection Commissioner Billy Hawkes has issued a stark warning about the dangers of …